Drawing blood question

Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN · Jul 19, 2017

To clarify, you're asking about 1st draw the waste tube, next flush with NS, and 3rd draw the blood for labs?

well if you flush again, you're negating that waste tube. If you flush and immediately draw labs, your lab tubes will contain NS, and results won't be accurate

matt3467 · Jul 19, 2017

Yes that's what I meant. I can see the error of that thinking now though. Thank you for the reply.

JKL33 · Jul 19, 2017

There are so many little questions like this in nursing and you're right to ask! It's very hard, when a new nurse, to see a big picture because there are a lot of rules and sometimes the stakes are very high for doing something wrong. The feeling of all these rules can be overwhelming. One tip when wondering about things like this is to consider the principles behind the action. In this example: Why do we want to waste in the first place?

Additionally, even though you've received the correct answer here, I think you should read through your facility's procedure for drawing blood from a line. Then you can be confident about doing the right steps in the expected order...and that'll just make you feel better. One less thing to worry about! :)

NuGuyNurse2b · Jul 19, 2017

We had a nurse float to our floor. A pt had a port, and this nurse drew the blood. The Hgb came back frighteningly low. Pt was asymptomatic. I'm getting change of shift report and I'm thinking she did it wrong, but I don't accuse her. I look at the port line - there is dried blood sticking to the wall of the line. I call the MD, relay my suspicion, MD agrees to a re-draw. Re-drew from the port using the correct procedure, labs came back normal.